The PBS special series, "The Vietnam War," by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, which begins Sunday, no doubt will evoke emotions for both the veterans of that war as well as the observers, resisters and opponents of it. Various Veterans Affairs facilities are offering a Monday morning debriefing after the first episode of the series, because "it may bring up stressful memories for combat veterans."

Clearly the Vietnam experience is so unique that extraordinary responses are expected to the impact of this series, as it was to the actual war.

Vietnam, the time and place, was in fact extraordinary, and was and still is difficult to describe. Former United States Senator and Secretary of the Navy James Webb, who also was a highly decorated combat Marine in Vietnam, summed it up on a CBS Sunday Morning show in 2014: "If you were there, I don't need to explain. If you weren't, I can't explain."

I would suspect that most veterans of Vietnam would echo that statement. It has become became a common mantra of many veterans of that war. Many thought (and still think) the greatest problem many of the returning Vietnam veterans was that if in fact your body came back, so did your mind.

Some veterans are discussing whether they will watch the series. Some say that since it no doubt was developed by what they perceive as a left-leaning type, it merely will rehash the anti-war sentiment of the era, and they simply do not want to hear that again. Some of the more hardened veterans go on to say this will no doubt portray the enemy as the good guy and the American soldier as the bad guy, resurrecting the way they were treated upon the return home following their tours of duty in Southeast Asia.

Eddie Adams/AP 1965

Filmmaker Ken Burns said he hopes his 10-part documentary about the Vietnam War, which begins Sunday on PBS, could serve as sort of a vaccine against some problems that took root during the conflict, such as a lack of civil discourse in America.

Filmmaker Ken Burns said he hopes his 10-part documentary about the Vietnam War, which begins Sunday on PBS, could serve as sort of a vaccine against some problems that took root during the conflict, such as a lack of civil discourse in America. (Eddie Adams/AP 1965)

The stories of being spat upon at airports, with chants of "Baby Killer," and "Hey Hey, Ho Ho, how many kids did you kill today?" are ubiquitous in the Vietnam veteran community.

Even if half of these stories are embellished memories, then the other half are tragic, and perhaps even more tragic because they were heaped on young men, often 17 to 27 years old. They answered the call of their country and were sent to a foreign land to fight a war that was not a declared war, one not supported by most of their peers, and even most of their government.

Other warriors are referred to as "The Greatest Generation," as is the case of the World War II veterans, and "American Heroes" in the case of the Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. These accolades are right and just.

No such positive descriptors, however, have been applied to the Vietnam veteran. Perhaps the relatively recent greeting of "Welcome Home" is America's newfound acknowledgment of the veteran from 1965 to 1975, the war of which the writer Myra MacPherson described in 1984, "Above all, Vietnam was a war that asked everything of a few and nothing of most of America."

Michael Herr, who helped write the screenplay for "Full Metal Jacket" and "Apocalypse Now," wrote, "All the wrong people remember Vietnam. I think all the people who remember it should forget it, and all the people who forget it should remember it."

There is no doubt that all war is hell, but without the support of the people who send you into that war however, it is an even greater hell.

Hopefully, Ken Burns and Lynn Novick in their series, treat the Vietnam veteran with the honor deserved, and that the warrior of that war, albeit not declared, can in some way put away some of the demons that often come at night. Let's hope so.

Dr. Tom Bellino is the author of Bac Si: A Novel, a saga of the Vietnam War. He was a Navy psychologist during the Vietnam War.